Faith

What Checkers Taught Me About The Gospel

I am a board game enthusiast. I play as many board games I can lay my hands, ranging from Chess to Checkers, Ludo, Scrabble, Snakes and Ladders, etc. My favourite is Chess, I love the feeling I get when I ‘chop your queen’, then I know my opponent is almost defenceless and I now take all his players, leaving only the King.

My issue, however, is with Checkers, or what Nigerians call draft. I find it difficult to play the Nigerian draft because it differs from other how Draft is played in other parts of the world. It appears for only Nigeria, the rules are different. Below

Below is a list of differences between the rules of Draft played in Nigeria, as compared to other parts of the world.

NIGERIAN DRAUGHT

NORMAL STANDARD CHECKERS

You must “chop” when you have a chance else your piece will be seized You may or may not “chop” and your piece won’t be seized depending on your agreement with the other player
When a piece isn’t “crowned”, it can “chop” backwards All pieces keep moving forward. Only pieces that are crowned can “chop” backwards
When a piece is crowned, it can move more than two diagonal spaces to “chop”. (This one is the one that vexes me the most because someone can just stay and end your game like that with one move) When a piece is crowned, the only privilege it gets is that it can move backwards and “chop”, however, it still can’t move more than 2 diagonal spaces except when on a chopping spree.

So what’s my point? Unlike checkers that can have different rules based on region, bible interpretation is not like that. The entire counsel of the word of God has a singular purpose, reason and meaning wherever it is applied.

Unlike checkers that can have different rules based on region, bible interpretation is not like that. Click To Tweet

We must be careful of preaching a “regional gospel” that suits only the hearers of that region and can’t be applied anywhere.

For example, I heard the story of a Nigerian Pastor that was invited by his friend to preach at his church in one of the Nordic countries of Europe. Our Nigerian brother went there and was shouting at the top of his voice “God wants to meet all your needs. God wants to bless you with a car, a house and good health”. And he went on and on and the people were looking at him like a scarecrow. It seemed they were not moved.

After the sermon, his friend took Him to the back of the auditorium and explained to him, that in that particular country, the government already provides houses, at least a car and also their healthcare system is one of the best in the world. So that type of “gospel” might not really apply here.

Does God want to meet our needs? Yes. Does God want to heal? Yes. Is that all the gospel is about? NO NO NO. Anything that you can get without Jesus, is not the reason Jesus came to die. The gospel being preached in Asia, is the same that must be preached in Africa, Europe and even Antarctica- If you wish to convert the polar bears.

Anything that you can get without Jesus, is not the reason Jesus came to die. Click To Tweet

That said, what is the gospel? The gospel is that Jesus Christ, who is God in the flesh, came to earth, lived as a man, died on the cross. He was buried, rose from the dead, ascended into heaven and offered his blood as an eternal sacrifice once and for all.
Now we who believe in this finished work of Jesus, are reconciled eternally to God and He is not angry with us at all, neither will he ever be. We are forgiven forever and our sins have been blotted out completely. God is now our Father (daddy) and as many as believe this, are His sons and daughters. This is the gospel.

This is the Easter. HALLELUJAH.

Thank you for reading. Kindly leave a comment, I’ll love to hear from you.

Read also;

False Reasons For Being A Christian

#LFS: Does Accepting Christ Guarantee Earthly Riches?

About author

Articles

Tolulope Oludapo is a young Christian who lends his voice through the media by sharing practical wisdom for everyday living in the most experiential and simplified fashion. This has fetched him the direct followership of over 30,000 users on his blog, lifegiva.com. A blog he founded. He loves to write on varying subjects that affect life, faith, relationship...everyday living.
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